It’s 9.45pm on a Wednesday. I had just gotten off the phone with a banker friend of mine. The conversation ended up lasting less than 15 seconds. No, the connection didn’t prematurely end. The brevity of the call was because the gentleman told me, in a hushed tone, that he couldn’t speak at the time. Simply because he was in the middle of a meeting in the office. In the background, I could hear some of his colleagues discussing work-related matters. I rechecked my watch, just to be sure what time it was. I hadn’t been wrong. It was 15 minutes to 10.And this chap was in the middle of a meeting at the office.Wow.I didn’t know whether to laugh or sympathize with him. I then thought about the likely possibility of him getting home around 11pm or later.The next thing that came to my mind was him reluctantly having to wake up a few hours later for another busy day. If you are currently in the banking industry, what you’ve just read might not sound like such a big deal as many of you are probably used to long hours being spent at the office.However,I wonder what most employees really feel about this ‘torture’ in the name of collecting a salary. From various interactions i’ve had with bankers, picking up your stuff to close at 5.30pm would draw serious stares from your colleagues & bosses alike. Like you were walking around the office naked. So my wonder is this: Why do most bankers work such lengthy hours? Some say it’s a way of avoiding the regular rush hour traffic in the evenings. Could it possibly be a bit of eye-service, as well? As in, to seem like such a committed workaholic in the eyes of your boss or superiors? Or is your bank/unit/department understaffed,thereby creating an enormous amount of workload for the available hands to handle? I had actually thought that with the capitalization exercise carried out by the CBN a few years ago, things in this area would improve. My angle being that there would be only about 25 banks in operation(as against the 80+ we had before) thereby reducing competition, and that the 25 would have vast amount of funds available at their disposal, thereby reducing the pressure experienced in the past with marketing,rivals,financing of required staff number requirements/remuneration costs etc.For married, female bankers, there’s also a negative impact lengthy work hours could have with the domestic requirements at home, especially when children are involved. So my dear people, what exactly makes it ‘unofficially’ necessary that most bank employees close late? As for my banker friend, I hope he gets spared the current torture he’s experiencing, though. I thought i heard only witches/wizards met late at night.
Monday, April 7, 2008
The Torture called Banking
It’s 9.45pm on a Wednesday. I had just gotten off the phone with a banker friend of mine. The conversation ended up lasting less than 15 seconds. No, the connection didn’t prematurely end. The brevity of the call was because the gentleman told me, in a hushed tone, that he couldn’t speak at the time. Simply because he was in the middle of a meeting in the office. In the background, I could hear some of his colleagues discussing work-related matters. I rechecked my watch, just to be sure what time it was. I hadn’t been wrong. It was 15 minutes to 10.And this chap was in the middle of a meeting at the office.Wow.I didn’t know whether to laugh or sympathize with him. I then thought about the likely possibility of him getting home around 11pm or later.The next thing that came to my mind was him reluctantly having to wake up a few hours later for another busy day. If you are currently in the banking industry, what you’ve just read might not sound like such a big deal as many of you are probably used to long hours being spent at the office.However,I wonder what most employees really feel about this ‘torture’ in the name of collecting a salary. From various interactions i’ve had with bankers, picking up your stuff to close at 5.30pm would draw serious stares from your colleagues & bosses alike. Like you were walking around the office naked. So my wonder is this: Why do most bankers work such lengthy hours? Some say it’s a way of avoiding the regular rush hour traffic in the evenings. Could it possibly be a bit of eye-service, as well? As in, to seem like such a committed workaholic in the eyes of your boss or superiors? Or is your bank/unit/department understaffed,thereby creating an enormous amount of workload for the available hands to handle? I had actually thought that with the capitalization exercise carried out by the CBN a few years ago, things in this area would improve. My angle being that there would be only about 25 banks in operation(as against the 80+ we had before) thereby reducing competition, and that the 25 would have vast amount of funds available at their disposal, thereby reducing the pressure experienced in the past with marketing,rivals,financing of required staff number requirements/remuneration costs etc.For married, female bankers, there’s also a negative impact lengthy work hours could have with the domestic requirements at home, especially when children are involved. So my dear people, what exactly makes it ‘unofficially’ necessary that most bank employees close late? As for my banker friend, I hope he gets spared the current torture he’s experiencing, though. I thought i heard only witches/wizards met late at night.
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5 comments:
I cant understand the whole working late till you're practically falling apart syndrome! The law of diminishing returns will surely set in and you cannot in any way, guise or form give your best when you've been at it for 15 hours - only to go home, get 5 hours sleep and repeat the whole process again. If they're honest with themselves, they'll see its just a mixture of eyeservice, lack of work ethics and "big manism". surely they will have better results if workers rest properly?
Yes, someone should replace "banking culture" with "banking torture" I dont get the whole working till you're cross eyed with tiredness thing that most of them do - i mean, the law of diminishing returns will definitely set in and any boss expecting some meaningful work surely cant be serious?
I bet you, if they do an audit of the work done after say 9 hours of work, it will be crap compared to what was or could have been achieved earlier. Either that, or they spend the better part of the day faffing about and try to make it up in the evening.
Agree with both comments...i wonder how much productivity is actually derived in the later hours(say from 6.30pm)..hmmm
2 things:
1st..
To be honest, I'm not sure most of the hours spent working till 12am are actually effective hours. I recall speaking to a banker friend of mine recently who was in the office at 9pm or so. When I asked him what he was doing and he said "Nothing much. Just on Facebook". I asked him why he didn't go home and he said there was really nothing to do at home. But at least he was on FB "after hours".
Pple when you spend normal work hours on FB instead of working effectively then sorry I am not sympathetic when you end up staying till 12am. I personally think some people derive pleasure in telling people they get home at 2am for some strange reason. And this is, by no means, directed at your friend. So no offence intended.
2nd.
Staying till 11pm isn't only synonymous with the banking industry. I used to be a consultant and I worked crazy hours! Worse still after working, sometimes overnight all week long, I had to get up early on weekends (Saturdays and Sundays) to attend 7am to 9pm ICAN classes. It just was not funny!
It used to be quite embarrassing when the clients on the site would tell us to either lock their office or tell us they needed to lock their office. Haba! For what now???
This "working till you drop" syndrome was always addressed but nothing was ever done about it... till today... And it has resulted in a huge turnover level for the company and a loss of extremely good staff. Personally, I know people in different companies that have been given bad ratings simply because they leave work early.
I particularly get upset when, after busting my guts to meet my target deadline, the work doesn't leave till 2 sometimes 3 months later. I recall once being called back on 3rd Mainland Bridge at 8pm and the work didn't get to the client till about 4 months later simply because the work was not as urgent as I was made to believe. Since then, I promised myself I would NEVER stay that late until it was absolutely necessary and sometimes, yes it is necessary, to work till late to meet certain deadlines but not ALL THE TIME!
I think it is a serious issue in most establishments that need to be worked on. And that is a problem from the top.
Also sorry to disappoint a lot of you but you really are NOT indispensable. You need to realise that the heaven will not fall and work will NOT stop if you go home early!
Besides, with the safety concerns on our roads these days, you "gaz" to realize that it is by God's grace that you get home in 1 piece. Think about your lives and your loved ones at home. I felt particularly bad because my mother never slept till I got home even if it was the next morning and would call ever so often to ask if I was okay.
I know enough people who have been attacked, some shot/shot at on their way home. Your boss will only tell you "Eh yah... Sorry". E-mails will fly around telling all staff to avoid certain routes and leave at certain hours. The nice ones will replace your stolen goods if you're lucky and if it's not that expensive (or give you half of the money for its replacement as it happened in my case).
But hey... a life can NEVER be replaced even if your eye or hand can be and even that sef can never be the same.
So think about that when next you or your boss agree to unreasonable deadlines that cause you to spend your life in the office!
I agree very much with the first two comments and most of the others. And like most people here have already suggested, it's a mixture of many things: mostly the wrong things - 'appearing to be working' is NOT a reason that should keep anyone at work.
And it's really not necessary.
I can prove it that Banks can close at four and not diminsh in productivity.
Is this the only country that runs financial services? Abeg!
It's funny that the banks should be helping the Lagos State Govt fight crime now as I beleieve they're some of the biggest contributors to our current and future crime rates.
Why?
Minus all the other reasons surrounding ostensible lifestyles etc What's going to happen to all these children growing up without parental guidance???
All these scantily-clad, rainbow-coloured groups of 'little girls' who flock SilverBird Galleria & The Palms, wandering and chattering aimlessly about, waiting consciously or unconsciously for 'Hawks' & 'Big Bad Wolves' to feast on them.
We haven't started fighting crime O...!
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